Apparatus for mining



Sept. 30, 1930. T. K. VOGELEY APPARATUS FOR MINING Filed Feb. 28, 1929 INVENTOR IIIIBYrllII wi 4 Patentecl Sept. 30, 1930 cams-Tam PATENT'OFFIC-E THEODORE xvoennny, or B TLER, PENNSYLVANIA APPARATUSFOR lvunnve Application filed. February 23,1929. Serial No. s43,3o4.

My invention relates to a method of and apparatus for'mining, and particularly for the mining of coal. 1

One obj ect'of my invention is to provide a 5 means and a method whereby a defined block of'coal from a coal seam may be cut, broken down and loaded in an economical manner with a large percentage of lamp coal and with a small amount of damage to the mine l0 roof. I

My invention is more particularly adapted for use in connection with the long-wall system of mining coal; although a short-wall mining machine may, be employed such long-wall mining operation.

One form ofapparatus and system for practising my invention is shown in the ac-:

companying drawing wherein Figure 1 is a partially diagrammatic view showing the ap ting machine and conveyers. The entries and headers define blocks of coal 8 which it is desired to mine. The cutting machine is represented by the numeral .10, and 11 represents a receiving conveyer. The frame of the conveyer 11 and the cutting machine 10 are shown as pivotally connected at 12, but may be connected for unitary traveling movem nt in any. other suitable manner. The conveyer 11 ismounted on a sled carriage 9 so that the apparatus can be moved along the face of the block of coal, as the cutting and breaking down of the coal progresses. This movement is effected in any suitablemanner; as for instance by a cable 13 whose one'end isanchored at 14; and

which passes around a sheave 1-5 to a winding drum 16 that is driven by the motor of the cutting machine.

The belt of the conveyer 11 is drivenby a motor 17, through the medium of a sprocket 1iee1 1's,a sprocket chain 19, and a sprocket wheel 20. Th'e'conveyer is of such small yer-- tica'l' dimension at its inner or forward end asto permit entry thereof into the kerf which 'is cut by-the cutting machine .10. I

In the operation of the system, the cutting machine is advanced along the faceof the coal by means of the windingdrum 16 and the cable 13 referred to, during operation of the cutting machine. Previous to or during the cutting of'the coal, shot 'holes-2Imay be drilled at the upper sideof the coal seamso that when the cutting'has progressed to a pointwhere the conveyer 11 extends a desiredfdist'ance into the kerf, explosives are introduced into the holes 21 to shootdown "the'mass-of undermined coal upon theconveyer 't-h'e explosive charge being s'uihcient to'break up the coal into lumps small enough to be convenientlycarried by the conveyer.

'Itvvill beseen that although only a single kerf-is cutin the coal seam, the explosive charge need not be so greatas to produce any considerable *quantity of pulverized coal, since-suchundercut portion of the coal has two J exposed vertical faces as," compared to short'wall systems wherein only one face (the outer face). of the undermined coal is'exposed. Y

A plate =30is supported by the conveyer 1'1 and'lbridges'the space between the cutter chain andthe conveyer to' preventloose coal from falling therebetween and interfering with the advancing movement of-the conveyer into the kerf. As shown in Fig. 2', the right hand flight of the cutter chain will carry loose coal outof the path of travel of the conveyer frame to permit the frame to be freely moved into the'kerf;

Y The rece ving conveyer 11 dischargesjto a face conveyer 22 which in turn discharges to a section conveyer 23. From the section conveyer, the coal is discharged upon a trans fer conveyer 24 which in turn discharges the coal intomine cars 25. Main entryfconveyers 26 are provided for carrying coal to-the transfer conveyer 24, from other headers.

The spacing between the conveyer 11 and the-cutting'machine 10 as indicated in Fig. 3,

will depend upon the nature of the coal and the thickness of the vein, as well as upon the width and capacity of the conveyer. For thick veins of coal and relatively narrow conveyers, the coal will have to be shot down before the conveyer has entered too far into the kerf, so that the conveyer will properly handle the coal shot down. Ordinarily, the cutting machine will be stopped during'shooting operations.

The arrangement above-described possesses the further advantage that since the entire exposed upper face of the conveyer belt travels towards the discharge end of the conveyer, a deeper kerf may be cut into the coal seam and then shot down than if the'con veyer flights were disposed in horizontallyspaced relation instead of vertically-spaced relation, since in the case of horizontallyspaced flights, a portion of the coal would be caught by the outer conveyer flight and carried toward the face of the coal seam.

In other words, not only may the tonnage mined be increased with my conveyer arra-ngement by reason of the increased depth of cut possible, but all coal which falls upon the conveyer will be carried toward the dis charge end thereof.

it further advantage of my arrangement of the cutting machine and the conveyer resides in the pivotal connection therebetween, since unitary travelling movement is obtained thereby without danger of the apparatus binding in the kerf. The weight of the conveyer mechanism and the coal carried thereby is not imposed upon the cutter frame by any unevenness in the floor or by any particles of coal, as would be the case if the cutter and the conveyer were solidly connected together.

I By providing detachable connection between the cutter and conveyer, they may be inde pendently transported or moved into operative position and connected together. 7

I claim as my invention:

1. Mining apparatus comprising a frame, a cutter chain of loop form movable around said frame, a conveyer frame disposed alongside of the first-named frame and having pivotal connection therewith on a horizontal axis extending longitudinally of the said frames, and a conveyer movable on said conveyer. frame. v

2. Mining apparatus comprising an undercutting machine, a conveying device disposed with its longitudinal axis in parallelism with said undercutting machine, and means for detachably connecting said undercutting machine with said conveying device at points spaced longitudinally thereof, whereby said device and said machine are rendered capable of relative vertical movements independently of each other.

3. Mining apparatus comprising a cutting device for cutting kerfs movable in a horizontal plane, a belt conveyer disposed to the rear of the cutting device and having upper and lower runs disposed within the upper and lower boundary lines of the cutting device, means for advancing the cutting device and the conveyer into a coal seam, and means pivotally connecting said device and said THEODORE K. VOGELEY. 

